Hollywood psycho, p.7
Hollywood Psycho, page 7
I ran out of the hotel with desperation for answers and a strong urgency to get home. I jumped into the first taxi that I could find, and I cried the entire way home. Home. My own personal place to feel safe, you would think.
When I got to my door, it wasn’t shut all the way. I remembered locking it before I headed over to Dalton’s the evening before. I always made sure to double check, because my grandmother always did. It was a habit. I slowly pushed the door open and found that someone had broken in and destroyed everything. Furniture was knocked over, papers that I had in drawers were all over the place, and a photo of my grandmother and I was smashed on the ground. My safe place was now destroyed.
All I could think was, Why was this happening to me? What did I do to deserve all of this? And why did bad things just follow me around? There had to be some sort of explanation. My world felt like it was caving in; like that night on the beach where the waves were crashing over me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get out. The weight of the water holding me down with the tide, pulling me under and thrashing me around was a constant feeling in my chest, on an everyday basis these days.
I sank to the floor, sobbing, hugging my knees tightly into my chest, and rocking back and forth. I needed my friend—my best friend. I got the strength to stand up and call Roxy. She was the only one that I could think of to call in that time of need, because she was my best friend and would be there for me. She would believe me. I needed her.
“Come over now,” was all she said before hanging up the phone.
Somehow, I managed to get there. Somehow, I was able to change clothes and dial for a taxi to come and get me. Somehow—just somehow.
“Tell me what happened so we can figure out who did this to you,” she said as she consoled me.
Breathe, just breathe. My mind was all over the place and I was the most terrified that I had ever been in in my life. I could hardly manage to get any words out of my mouth. My mind couldn’t even come up with a sentence, no matter how big or little it was. When I was finally able to speak, all I could say was, “Why did this happen to me?”
Roxy hugged me and told me that everything would be okay, just like a best friend should do.
“There was a note,” I said between my sobs. “With the flowers. Maybe you might recognize the writing or where it’s from or something?” I asked, hopeful.
I showed the chilling note to my best friend, but she couldn’t place it. “I don’t recognize the shop and I’m not really good with recognizing handwriting. Usually it’s whoever is taking the call that writes it if the sender doesn’t go in themselves. But I do know that I’ve definitely never seen this writing before.”
“Will you take me to the police?” I asked her.
“No, Jules, you can’t go to the police,” she snapped.
I was taken aback by the quickness to her response. It was odd.
“What do you mean I can’t go to the police? I have to!” I cried.
“Jules, they won’t believe you. Come on, two crazy things happening to one person in one night? They would laugh at you and think that you were crazy,” she said.
“But Roxy…”
“And besides. If this got out, which it probably would, it could hurt my father’s reputation. And don’t you want my father to cast you in a role? Something like this cannot be filed.”
What? It didn’t make any sense that my best friend wasn’t supporting me. I could have gotten killed in either incident, but she didn’t seem to think that this was as important as her father’s reputation. I did want to get cast in a role by the famous “Richard Harrington,” but what was more important? My safety? Or my career?
“Okay. I guess you’re right,” I paused. “I’m just so scared.” I started to sob again.
“Which is why you’re staying here with me for a few days, just so that I know that you’re safe,” she squeezed my hand.
“Roxy, you don’t have to do that.”
“Of course, I do. You’re my best friend. I love you, Jules.” She smiled. “And besides, this way we can gossip about how much Dalton is worried about you.”
“What? He told you that?”
“Yeah, I called him before you got here and told him about the break in, and well, he said that he hoped that you were okay. And hey, I saw you two at the club last night. He is so into you.”
My heart instantly started feeling better. I knew that we were going somewhere after our date. Maybe I could put all of this behind me and move on towards a brighter future. A future that included me and Dalton, together.
Chapter Ten
While I was staying with Roxy, we were getting to know each other more and blossoming our friendship. She was so sweet to be taking care of me and trying to keep my mind off of what had happened. Having someone look out for me made it feel like I had family again; someone to rely on, someone that would always be there.
Thankfully, her father was out of town. It would have been awful for him to see me like that. He would definitely never cast me then; I’d be the girl who couldn’t get anything right. The girl who couldn’t make it for herself. The girl who’d never live up to her potential. I’d just be lost amongst the sea of others that once had a dream, and I didn’t want him to see me like that. I wanted him to think that I could be the next big star in one of his movies. So having this time to get myself together, with the help of Roxy, was just what I needed, and she couldn’t have been a better friend.
During my stay, we did the sort of things you dream about doing with your best friend as a kid. Although, she had been doing them all her life. She took me to get my hair and nails done. We went shopping on Rodeo and out to fabulous lunches. We saw a movie, got dressed up for dinners at her house that her chef made, and grubbed out on candy and ice cream.
On the third day of my stay, Roxy said that she had an appointment to go to and would be back the following afternoon. I didn’t think much of it. I didn’t need to ask where she was going. She had been so nice and hospitable to me; I didn’t feel like she was trying to get rid of me or anything, but I did try to go home. Roxy insisted that I stay and that she would try and hurry back.
I was laying out by the pool, trying to finish a book that I had been reading for a while, when a shadow fell upon me. Startled, I sat up, nearly falling out of the lounge chair.
“Julie!” It was him. “Julie, Julie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, sitting down to hug me. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?” He sounded worried as he kissed my head and held on to me tightly.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just been a little jumpy lately.” I tried to brush it off.
“Well, it’s okay. I’m here now,” he said, still holding me with his strong arms.
Breathing in his scent—my favorite scent—and feeling his warm body against mine helped relax my racing heart and calm me down.
“Did Roxy tell you to come over here?” I asked, hoping that Roxy hadn’t told him what had fully happened to me.
“No, I’m actually not talking to her right now. I just wanted to come and see you,” he paused. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too, Dalton.” My heart was exploding with love for him, for Dalton—my Dalton. He made everything feel fine; better even, like nothing bad had even happened at all.
I smiled at him and he gently began to kiss me, but then he pulled away. “So how long is she gonna be gone for?”
“Until tomorrow afternoon,” I said, wanting him to kiss me again. “How did you know that she was gone?”
“Sebastian.”
“Right,” I smirked.
His sultry eyes looked into mine. “I want to spend as long as I can with you, Julie.”
“I want that too,” I said back, looking from his eyes to his lips. He smiled and leaned in, our mouths meeting for another kiss. I can’t even begin to explain just how good his lips felt when they were on mine. When I close my eyes and think about that specific kiss, it’s like fireworks on the Fourth of July going off in my head. He just made me so happy.
A short while later, we were in his car driving down to the beach to watch the sunset. The drive was calming. It was a feeling that I hadn’t felt in a long time; being in a moment where everything was still and perfect. Our hands were intertwined, fitting perfectly inside one another’s the entire way. Every now and then, Dalton would turn to look at me and just smile. We didn’t say much during that drive. There wasn’t really much to say. There was more of a feeling of being safe and being loved that fueled the lack of conversation between the two of us; like we knew we were meant to be. We could have stayed in that drive forever—forever feeling our hearts connected with our unspoken words. I kind of wish I was there now. Every now and then, he would squeeze my hand and slowly bring it up to his lips, giving it the gentlest little kiss. I can still feel his hand in mine, and that makes my heart happy.
When we finally got to the beach, Dalton pulled a blanket out of his trunk, along with a bottle of Champagne. How was he that amazing? He was so kind and thoughtful, and I was so, very much in love with him.
We lay on the beach far beyond the sun setting, breaking our silence to talk about our childhoods and about our dreams for the future.
“So, why acting?” he asked.
“I’ve always loved movies and being on stage. Performing, really. It was kind of a way for me to escape when I was growing up.”
“Escape from what?”
“Well, I don’t usually like to tell people, but my parents died in a car accident when I was eight, so my grandmother raised me. She’s the one that got me into old Hollywood films. We did everything together, and she never treated me weird like everybody else did, which I loved. God, you would have loved her, she was so funny. She would get a huge kick out of Chad and Sebastian, that’s for sure, and she would be happy that I have Roxy as a friend. And she would definitely be shocked at the life I’m living now, that I’m actually out here pursuing my dreams.”
“Yeah, and what would she think about me?” he asked.
It was hard to come up with just the right words to say to him without revealing how my heart felt, so I was honest in a way. “Oh, she’d love you.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah! She’d think you were very handsome, smart, charming… She’d be very happy that you were in my life.”
“So where is she now? Back home?”
“No, she passed about a year before I moved out here.”
“I’m sorry, Julie.”
“Oh, don’t be. It's okay.” I smiled. “But, please don’t tell the others. I don’t want them to be awkward around me.”
“I won’t, I promise,” he said and smiled at me as I turned towards him. “Well, I’m glad that I would make her happy. I think that I’d love her too.”
“Yeah, she always made me feel so special and very much loved. So, when I moved out here, I decided that I just wouldn’t say anything to anyone. I didn’t want them to feel sorry for me. I got those looks a lot as a kid and it always bothered me, so if anyone asked me about my family, I would just say that they still lived back in Missouri,” I explained.
“I get it. I kind of had a similar upbringing.”
“Really?” I questioned. “How so?”
“Well, my mom wasn’t really a mom. She cared more about the party and getting fucked up than she did about me. So, my nannies were the mother figures in my life. But my mom always found a problem with one of them, so they never stuck around more than a few months to a year. Genevieve was my favorite though. She stayed with me for two years before she finally had enough of my mom’s shit. She would have been gone a lot sooner, but she actually cared about me, which was really nice. She put up with my mom for as long as she did for my best interests. But when I was 16, my mom was done with me and bought me my own house. I mean, she loves me, don’t get me wrong. Her way of thinking that she’s a good Mother is buying me things and letting me do whatever I want. Which don’t get me wrong, had its perks,” he laughed. “But growing up, all I ever wanted was just a hug from her or for her to tell me that she loved me.”
Our lives were different, but one in the same. We didn’t have our parents. Although we were loved and had happy lives, there was still always something missing, and there was always a pity taken upon us.
The evening was perfect, and I learned much more than I ever had expected to about Dalton Blake. I felt very lucky.
“I’ve always had a passion for writing and for music.”
“Really? What have you written?”
“Just a few songs here and there,” he said, shrugging and looking out into the distance.
“Do you play anything? Or sing?” I asked with a growing smile on my face.
“No, I just write the lyrics,” he paused. “Poems, really.”
“Can I read one?” I gazed lovingly at him.
“Maybe on our fourth date,” he smiled at me. “We’re halfway there,” he said, and began tickling me until I fell backwards in the sand with him landing on top of me. “You’re so beautiful Julie,” he said, looking deeply into my eyes, like he was actually looking at me. He slowly brought his face closer, without ever taking his eyes from mine, and passionately started to kiss me, brushing his hand against my face and gently caressing down to my chest and over my breast until his fingertips were the only things touching me. One by one, they disappeared until his hand braised my lower back and he pulled me in.
We stayed at the beach for a few hours, not really keeping track of time, and not caring about our lives back in Beverly Hills. In those few hours, we were just two people getting to know one another and starting to share the same feelings towards each other. We were ordinary people. Just a boy and a girl, falling in love.
“Yeah, I do love acting and it’s my dream to get a leading role, but I would really love to have a family. I want to have little babies and love them how my parents loved me. I guess I mostly want what I really didn’t have. So, I’m going to make it for myself. I’ll be there helping my daughter when she’s getting ready on her wedding day, and I’ll be there, teaching my son how to really treat a girl. I’ll be there when they have their hearts broken for the first time. It’s lame, I know but…”
“It’s not lame at all. You’re going to be the best Mom, Julie. You know,” he paused. “I never really thought about all of that before, but hearing you talk about it makes me want it too.”
I smiled, knowing in my heart that he was telling me the truth.
“I’ve never met anyone like you before, Julie.”
“Oh, come on! You must have, you’re Dalton Blake,” I said back, playfully pushing his arm.
“No, I’m serious,” he said. “I know a lot of people and I’ve been around a lot of people, but I’ve never met anyone that has a heart like yours…”
That heart that he was talking about began racing, but also slowing to a calmness. He was perfectly playing at my heartstrings.
“You’re so beautiful, Julie.”
“Yeah, I think you said that already,” I smiled, blushing.
“No, I mean it. Julie, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I… you just make me feel so good. You make me want things that I’ve never wanted before, the life you talked about. You make me want… you,” he said, with a tender look in his eyes. Then he just kept looking at me, like he wanted to tell me something or like he wanted to say more. Instead, he brushed the side of my face and kissed me again.
On the drive home I asked him a question that had been nagging at me. “Hey, why aren’t you talking to Roxy right now?
He answered plainly, “She did something that I really didn’t like.” He seemed to get a little tense.
I left it at that.
But that drive back to Roxy’s seemed too quick. I didn’t want my night with Dalton to ever end. I wanted to be with him forever.
When we got to the door, I stopped and turned towards him. “Do you have to go?”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
We laid in bed and started to watch a movie. We had had the best night. This was the side of Dalton Blake that I was the only person in the whole world to know about and get to see. He was so gentle and caring, and he wanted more in life than cars and a trust fund. And when he looked into my eyes, it was as if he were reading my soul, word for word, and taking in their true meaning. He was my soulmate, and I was madly in love with him.
“I wish that we could stay like this forever,” I said as I lay there wrapped in his arms, knowing that that was exactly where I was supposed to be. With my head gently laying on his chest, the sound of his beating heart was the lullaby drifting me off to sleep.
“Me too,” he said softly, as he lightly gave me a kiss on the top of my head. Just as my eyes were falling heavy, he whispered, “I’m sorry, Julie. I should have protected you.”
And just like that, I was left to my dreams.
Chapter Eleven
Two more days passed before I decided that I would go back home to my apartment— back to the damage of my life that I was trying to move on from. I hesitated at the door, not wanting to see the mess that awaited me and have terrible memories flood back into my mind. So I stood there, taking deep breaths until I was ready. Finally, I turned the key slowly and pushed the door open. I stood there, not able to believe what was before my eyes. Everything was clean and back to how it was before that terrifying night. I stood there confused, thinking about what had taken place over such a short period of time, and it baffled me. There I was, standing in what had been a room of utter dismay just a few days prior, but it was now just the way I had left it. My safe place. Just like the last time I had locked my door before that night.
